Additional Halifax Current Account - Credit Check?

WorkingTowardsDebtFree

I've had an EasyCash account for probably a decade, and after being a bit rubbish with my past financial commitments I couldn't get this upgraded.

I've turned over a new leaf though, and been working hard at clearing my previous commitments (even where I haven't been being chased) and living within my means.

Halifax gave me an upgrade to a Current Account about 6 weeks ago, and about 8 weeks ago I also got accepted for a Vanquis Credit Card (with a £1000 initial limit, more than I could ever have imagined - I was expecting £200!). This made me very happy (not because I am able to put myself back into debt, but because it proves to myself that I can rebuild my credit worthiness, and shows me that I have been making progress in doing so.

Don't get me wrong, none of this is about getting myself into debt or putting myself back where I've been before - I've learned my lesson and until I need a mortgage in the future I won't "get myself into debt" - the Vanquis is just about using a small percentage monthly (like the groceries) and paying it off immediately.

Anyways back to the Halifax account. Practically every time I logon I get offered an upgrade to an Ultimate Reward account. The insurances seem worthwhile for me (to the point that I was considering getting some of them individually anyway), and with my salary I'll only be paying £10 a month.

I'd prefer to open a separate account for the Ultimate Reward account - this would allow me to have my salary come into it, with all my DD's setup on it, and then I could just transfer my money to the normal Current Account - and I know what's in there I can spend with the knowledge that my bills are taken care of in a separate account. I'm very careful these days and haven't messed up in a good few years - but I still like the idea clarity that separation brings.

I have a few questions though and wondered if anyone here could answer them:

1) Can I open the Ultimate Reward account alongside my Current Account instead? Will this cause another credit check (not really something I want to do after the recent upgrade and a new CC account being opened)?

2) If it were to cause another credit check to open a separate account, I don't want to do that - so in that case if I were to just stick with the one account and upgrade it, would it cause a new credit check then?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice anyone can offer!

matty747

They credit checked me again to open a second account a week after I opened the first one but not for the credit card!

WorkingTowardsDebtFree

Ah okay... Thanks for the info!

Strange they didn't for the credit card too!

GingerFurball_2

I'm pretty sure you'll be credit checked but the fact that it's appearing in your internet offers would suggest to me that you're eligible and will get the upgrade unless there's something catastrophic on your credit file that Halifax don't know about.

YorkshireBoy

WorkingTowardsDebtFree wrote: »

Strange they didn't for the credit card too!

There are two scenarios where they wouldn't make a credit search for a credit card:


1. Where the applicant opens both a current account and a credit card at the same time in branch. What's the point?...since both searches will return exactly the same information.


2. Where a customer has a long standing current account relationship, they base their decision on the account throughput/management and the regular CRA monthly feeds they receive.


There's also another scenario where they wouldn't make a credit search for a current account. I opened 3 x BoS Vantage accounts just over a year ago, and each was opened 48 hours apart. They only searched my CRA files once, for the initial application...and didn't feel the need to search me again so soon after.

WorkingTowardsDebtFree

Thanks all for the info!

Compared to when Halifax searched for the upgrade to the current account they'll see their own search, the CC search (and account opened) and also that more of my old debts (3/4 years old) have now been settled. The extra searches and account, being relatively new, could be interpreted negatively potentially?

I've decided to go for it. I'm not planning on applying for anything else anyway, so 3 searches in a couple of months even if they were to decline me isn't the end of the world. Worse case scenario, I open up a basic bank account elsewhere to give me the DD separation.